mr. sanders: mr. president, i would ask -- the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated and i speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. sanders: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today i want to say a word about a critical issue for the state of vermont and for my state's energy future. and that deals with the vermont -- the presiding officer: the senator will yield. the senate is not in order. the senate is not in order. the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president, i want to say a word about the energy future of my state and the vermont yankee nuclear power plant. the vermont yankee nuclear power plant is one of 23 plants in our country with the same design general electric mark i as the fukushima plants that have experienced partial or perhaps full meltdowns in japan. all of us feel terrible about what has happened in japan, and our hearts go tou out to that struggling country.

mr. sanders for mr. akaka, proposes an amendment numbered 512. on page 48 -- mr. sanders: mr. president, i would ask contessa that -- ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i am reading in press reports that some of my colleagues across the aisle are advocating another stimulus package, sometimes called government investment, otherwise called spending taxpayers' money that we don't have and borrowing it from our children and most immediately from the chinese that own a trillion dollars of our national debt. it is astonishing to me that after the last stimulus package early in 2009 failed to meet the president's own stated target of keeping unemployment to 8% or lower, that some of our colleagues are trying to double down on a bad deal by advocating more stimulus. when 43 cents out of every dollar that is being spent in america today is borrowed money. i mentioned that th

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated and -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: that i be allowed to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, this is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. in the coming days and weeks, decisions will be made about our national budget that will impact the lives of virtually every american in this country for decades to come, and the time is now for the american people to become significantly involved in that debate and not leave it to a small number of people here in washington. mr. president, at a time when the wealthiest people and the largest corporations in our country are doing phenomenally well and in many cases have never had it so good, while the middle class is disappearing and poverty is increasing, it is absolutely imperative that any deficit reduction package that passes this congress not include the horrendous cuts, the cruel cuts in prog

mr. sanders: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the final ten minutes be equally divided and controlled between senators snowe and boxer with senator boxer controlling the final five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, i yield myself ten minutes of majority time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, there are a number of huge issues facing our country. our middle class is collapsing. poverty is increasing. we are in two wars. we are concerned about global warming. quality of our education. and massive unemployment. so this country today has its share of serious problems that we have got to address. right now a whole lot of attention, not inappropriately, is on our very large deficit and a $14 tr-pb-plus -- and a $14 trillion-plus national debt. this is an issue which is perhaps going to come to a head within the next few months as it becomes time to whether or not we raise the debt ceiling. i just want to say a few wo

sanders. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. chairman, you indicated in my last round of questioning, that representatives of a major multi-national corporation, a billion corporation of energy is involved in an extremely legal contest with the state of vermont, met with staff of the nrc. >> that's my understanding. >> do you think it's proper in midsts of a major legal dispute for components of staff to meet with the nrc? >> i would say, i think in the end, the best way to determine that is to see how the staff handles that. and our staff, i think are very diligent and focused on their responsibility to safety. and i think we have an effort to be open and to listen to concerns. >> but the issue in this lawsuit is not about safety, it's about the right of the state of vermont under the law to not relicense a nuclear plant. i am curious, to ask members, have you been contacted by energy or the nuclear power indust industry, in any way, written, verbally phoned about this case? >> i have not communicated with energy or any broad i

mr. president, i express my appreciation to senator sanders, senator leahy, my longtime friend and former employee in the department of justice, ron white, and the attorney general and others for working to help us get through this stalemate that we were involved in. i ask unanimous consent that the "help" committee be discharged from the following nomination -- there's two are them, nominations -- 678, public health service nominations, beginning with presidential nomination 678, public health service nominations beginning with mary j.w w. w. which hoi, d ending with christopher p. morris, the nomination be placed on the executive calendar, the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motion to rebe considered made and laid on the table there, be no intervening action or debate and that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations, any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the record and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the environment and public works com

klobuchar, cardin, binge minimum -- bingaman, merkley, menendez, shaheen, sanders, lautenberg, reed of rhode island, durbin, akaka. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:30 a.m. on tuesday, june 7. following the prayer and pledge the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day. following leader remarks, senate proceed to a period of morning business for up to one hour with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half. following morning business the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 782, the economic development act. further that the senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for wee

mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until the >>> in the senate yesterday independent bernie sanders spoke on the floor about the u.s. economy and the federal budget. he said he was sending a letter to president obama saying the time has come when he lost, quote, stand with the american people and reminded the republican party is extreme demands. he addressed this agreement with house budget chairman paul ryan to change medicare and medicaid and previous agreements between the white house and the gop onng tax breaks. >> mr. president, this is a our pivotal moment in the history of our country. in the coming days and weeks, decisions will be made about thf the lives of virtually every american in the country, and the time is now for the american people to become significantly t involved in that debate and notn leave a small number of people here in washington. the mr. president, at a time whenras the wealthiest people and theuny largest corporations in ournal country are doing phenomenallyt well and have never had it sos good. while the middle class is is disappearing and poverty is i

sanders be recognized in morning business at 4:00 p.m. for up to 90 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, as we have announced previously, there will be no roll call votes on monday. the first vote of the week will be on tuesday, june 28, at noon on confirmation of the cole nomination. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on monday. ♪ ♪ ♪ this weekend we will talk with the creators of flight of the century economics professor russ roberts and filmmaker john cupola. >> we are trying to reach people who aren't just in how the world works. that is everybody from a high school student who is curious about economics to a person who is just trying to make a living and get along and is worried about what is going on in washington are the country. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. >> the president obama visited new york today, home of the u.s. army's tenth mountain division. in his remarks, he spoke about the troop drawdown in afghanist